This Margherita Pizza on the Grill is one of the best pizzas ever! If you have ever had a pizza baked on a pizza stone on the grill, you know how good it is. Crispy bottom crust with just a hint of smoke from the grill. When you make a Margherita Pizza, every ingredient you use has to shine because it is made with just a handful of simple ingredients.
Looking for some other great grill ideas? Why not try this incredible BBQ Chicken Pizza if you are looking for a nonvegetarian option for grilled pizza? Or, if you are looking to create a pizza and wings night for the gang, why not include these Korean Chicken Wings; they have a subtle heat that would pair perfectly with pizza on the grill!
Making your own pizza dough is so easy; it just takes a little time for the dough to rise. And the homemade Neapolitan-style pizza sauce in this recipe is the perfect accompaniment to this amazing pizza.
HELPFUL ITEMS FOR THIS RECIPE
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WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE Margherita Pizza on the grill?
As I mentioned, because of the simplicity of a Margherita pizza, each of the ingredients you choose must be of excellent quality! From the dough to the pizza sauce, to the cheese, and fresh basil you use! For a hands-off version of the dough, try our Bread Machine Pizza Dough.
INGREDIENTS
- 00 Flour
- Yeast (Instant or quick rising)
- Sugar
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Warm water
- Homemade pizza dough (or store-bought)
- Homemade Neapolitan pizza sauce ( or store-bought)
- Fresh mozzarella or burrata
- Fresh basil leaves
- Cornmeal
How to make homemade Pizza dough
Start by preparing the dough; mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl or 6 qt bucket with a lid. Add the olive oil and warm water. Stir a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk, making sure you collect all the dry ingredients from the bottom.
The dough should be sticky and a little ragged. If it seems too dry, add a tbsp of water at a time. Mixing between each addition, be careful not to add too much water.
Once mixed, cover the container loosely (do not snap the lid on tightly). Set in a warm spot and allow to rise for about 2 hours. The dough should double in size.
Lightly flour your work surface and scrape the dough out of the bowl or bucket. Grease a small baking sheet with olive oil. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and form each into a ball. Place the dough balls on the oiled baking sheet and drizzle with additional olive oil.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Trust me, rolling out the dough for your pizza when it is cold is much easier!
You can keep the dough in your refrigerator for a day or two, or you can freeze any remaining dough. Simply wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in your freezer; defrost the frozen dough in your refrigerator for 24 hours before using.
The best pizza sauce recipe I have found is, again, simple but fabulous. Here is the link for the Recipe. The pizza dough was inspired by a great baker named Zoe Francois; we love to watch her create breads and pizzas.
How to make homemade Margherita Pizza on the grill
Place the pizza stone onto your grill and preheat the grill to hot, 500 degrees F. You need to cook your pizza over high heat. Take a ball of the cold dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Using your fingertips, press the dough out into a circle about 8 inches in diameter.
Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into a circle about 12-13 inches in diameter. You are looking for a uniform thickness of about 3/8 of an inch. You can roll up the edges or leave them flat, whatever you prefer.
Dust a pizza peel with cornmeal and carefully transfer the dough to the pizza peel. The cornmeal will help ensure that the dough will slide off the pizza peel onto the pizza stone when it’s time to cook it.
Spoon the sauce on the dough and spread it out evenly. Be careful not to add too much sauce to your pizza. Remember, the dough is quite thin, and too much sauce will make the slices too heavy and wet.
Once your grill and pizza stone are preheated, slide the pizza onto the hot stone and close the lid. Let the pizza cook for about 5 minutes.
Open the lid and place the fresh mozzarella or burrata on the pizza. You don’t want to put the cheese on at the beginning as it will melt too much and run all over your pizza.
At this point, you can also check the bottom of the crust. If it seems to be cooking unevenly, you can use your pizza peel to spin the pizza around on the pizza stone. Then close the lid again. Continue to cook the pizza until you have a “Leopard Spotted” bottom on your pizza. It should take another 2-4 minutes. Your cheese should also be nicely melted at this point too!
Finishing your Margherita Pizza
When your pizza is done, remove it from the grill using your pizza peel and place it on a large cutting board. Add the fresh basil, tearing the larger leaves into small pieces.
Look at that ooey gooey cheese and that tomato sauce with its rich tomato taste. You can drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the pizza just before you serve it if you like. I find it adds a bit more sophistication and flavor to the pizza.
This pizza would also work great in the many pizza ovens that are on the market now.
Can I change UP THE RECIPE?
The short answer is yes, of course you can! I know people who need to have meat on their pizza. If you are one of those people, then add some pepperoni or salami. There are so many pizza topping ideas. Get creative and make it your own!
I would offer a word of caution. Be careful not to overload your pizza with toppings when you are first starting to make pizza. The toppings can cause your pizza to cook differently. Your crust may also be less firm, and your pizza slices will be droopy.
You may have to adjust the thickness of your pizza crust to accommodate the extra toppings also. This may result in increased cook time so your crust isn’t doughy or under-done.
Pin it HERE!!
Pin it HERE!!
Margherita Pizza on the Grill
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 4 cups 00 flour double “0” flour
- ½ Tbsp. yeast instant or quick rising
- ½ Tbsp. sugar
- ½ Tbsp. Kosher salt
- 1 ½ Tbsps. extra virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 1 ½ – 2 cups lukewarm water
Margherita Pizza
- 1 ball of pizza dough 11 to 12 oz
- 1 cup homemade Neapolitan pizza sauce See Recipe
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella or burrata cut or torn into 1 inch pieces
- 6 – 8 fresh basil leaves
- Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
- Corn meal for sprinkling on the pizza stone and pizza peel to prevent the dough from sticking
Instructions
- Pizza Dough
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl or 6 qt (6 litre) bucket with a lid.
- Add the olive oil and 1 ½ cups of lukewarm water.
- Stir using a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk, making sure that you collect all the dry ingredients from the corners of the container. Your dough should be sticky and a little ragged. Add additional water a bit at a time if you find your dough too dry, but be careful not to add too much.
- Once mixed, cover your bowl loosely with plastic wrap or place the lid on the bucket (DO NOT snap the lid tightly closed as the gasses from the yeast need to escape!)
- Place in a warm spot and allow to rise for about 2 hours. The dough should more than double in size.
- Lightly flour a flat surface with flour and scrape the dough gently out of the bowl or bucket on the counter.
- Grease a small baking sheet with olive oil.
- Cut the dough into 4 equal size pieces and form into balls.
- Place the balls on an olive oil-coated baking sheet, drizzle with additional olive oil, and cover with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour before rolling it out.
- Margherita Pizza
- Place a pizza stone generously sprinkled with corn meal on your grill and heat the grill with the lid closed to 500 degrees F.
- Lightly flour or work surface and place the cold ball of dough on the flour.
- Using your fingertips, press the dough out into a circle about 8 inches in diameter.
- Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into a circle about 12 – 13 inches in diameter. You want the dough to be about 3/8 of an inch thick and of uniform thickness.
- You can roll up the edges if you like or leave them flat.
- Transfer the dough to a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal.
- Spoon the pizza sauce evenly over the dough.
- Once your grill is preheated, slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone and close the lid.
- Let the pizza cook for about 5 minutes. Open the lid and place the mozzarella or burrata on the pizza, then close the lid again.
- Allow the pizza to continue to cook until the bottom of the dough is crispy and “leopard spotted”.
- Using the pizza peel, remove the pizza from the pizza stone and place it on a large cutting board.
- Add the fresh basil, tearing the larger leaves into smaller pieces.
- Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and cut into wedges. Enjoy!!
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